From health.yahoo.com
By Lauren Bedosky
If you're living with type 2 diabetes, you may have heard that pasta is something you need to avoid. But if you love this comfort food and are willing to make a handful of tweaks to your dish, saying goodbye to this feel-good fare may not be necessary.
Though it's higher in carbohydrates than some other foods, pasta can fit into a healthy meal plan for someone with diabetes, says South Carolina-based Toby Smithson, RDN, CDCES, senior manager of nutrition and wellness for the American Diabetes Association. You simply need to watch your portion sizes and prepare this dish mindfully to help keep your blood sugar, weight, and overall health and nutrition on track.
1. Choose Whole-Grain (or Bean) Pasta
One easy way to make your pasta dish more nutritious is to swap out traditional noodles for a higher-fibre variety. "Whole-grain pasta can be a great option because it offers more fibre, which can help blunt blood sugar spikes," says Smithson.
Many typical white pasta products are fashioned with semolina flour, which is made by grinding a type of wheat known as durum. While semolina can be a nutritious flour - especially when it's enriched with vitamins and minerals - whole-grain pasta has a slight edge.
"Nothing is removed in processing [whole-grain pasta], so it has the highest nutrient value, including fibre," says Sue-Ellen Anderson-Haynes, RDN, CDCES, founder of 360Girls&Women, a holistic health and wellness company in the Boston area. One cup of uncooked whole-wheat spaghetti has about three times as much fibre as an equivalent amount of conventional pasta.
It's also getting easier to find pasta made from other wholesome starches, such as soybeans, lentils, and other legumes. Chickpea pasta, for example, has nearly 50 percent more protein and fibre than whole-grain pasta.
8 Whole Grains That Can Help Prevent or Manage Type 2 Diabetes
Replacing refined, simple sugars with more complex sources is an important step in managing type 2 diabetes. Eating complex carbohydrates rather than refined grains leads to better blood sugar management, according to the American Heart Association.
2. Make Vegetables the Star of Your Bowl
To make your pasta bowl more diabetes-friendly, add colour from the produce aisle.
Centring your pasta dish around non-starchy, naturally low-calorie vegetables can easily increase the amount of vitamins and minerals on your plate, says Smithson.
"Non-starchy vegetables are [also] high in fibre and have few carbohydrates, which means [a lesser] effect on blood sugar," says Anderson-Haynes. She recommends filling roughly half of your plate or bowl with options like kale, collard greens, arugula, broccoli, asparagus, cucumber, spinach, carrots, or mushrooms.
3. Swap Creamy Sauce for an Oil- or Tomato-Based Sauce
Like other "white" foods worth swapping out of your diet (white bread, white rice, and yes, white pasta), ditch white sauce when preparing a more diabetes-friendly meal.
Traditional cream-based sauces tend to have more saturated fat and sodium than other options, says Anderson-Haynes. "People with diabetes have a higher risk of heart disease, so it's imperative to choose heart-healthy foods low in sodium and fat," she says. Foods high in saturated fat can raise cholesterol levels in the blood, which may increase your risk of heart disease and stroke. Meanwhile, excess sodium in your diet can increase your risk of high blood pressure, one of the major risk factors for heart disease.
Smithson suggests choosing sauces with an olive oil and fresh garlic base, both of which offer potential heart-health benefits.
Olive oil, for example, contains a type of healthy fat known as monounsaturated fat. This type of fat may help lower cholesterol, a waxy substance that's beneficial in small amounts, when traded in for less healthy fat sources like butter.
Just remember that while olive oil provides healthy fats, it is still high in calories (124 calories per tablespoon), so practice portion control. Use a quarter-cup of olive oil and four or five garlic cloves per pound of cooked pasta, says Smithson. Portion the sauce equally among each serving of pasta (generally one-half cup of cooked noodles).
Red pasta sauces like marinara or classic tomato are other great options, "as they are lower in overall fat and calories" than cream-based sauces, says Jana Mowrer, RDN, CDCES, a nutritionist in private practice based in Fresno, California. Just stick to a one-half- to three-quarter-cup serving size, she adds.
When buying a packaged red sauce, choose a jar that contains no added sugar and, ideally, no more than 10 grams (g) of carbohydrates and 400 milligrams (mg) of sodium per half-cup serving, says Mowrer.
4. Experiment With Vegetable Noodles
If you can't handle wheat, or you'd like to slash the carbohydrate content of your pasta dish even more, try crafting noodles out of vegetables. If you don't have a spiralizer or mandoline - two kitchen tools used to spiralize produce by hand - you can use a vegetable peeler. Simply place the peeled vegetable strips in boiling water for 20 seconds, and then transfer the "noodles" into a bowl of ice, says Smithson. "For ease of preparation, it's fine to purchase spiralized vegetable noodles," she adds.
As long as they're not made from squash or sweet potatoes, which are starchy, spirals made from vegetables will be your lowest-carbohydrate option, says Smithson. Plus, vegetable noodles are typically lower in calories and rich in vitamins and minerals.
One cup of cooked zucchini spirals, for example, contains only 27 calories and 5 g of carbohydrates, whereas 1 cup of cooked whole-grain spaghetti noodles contains 165 calories and 35 g of carbohydrates. That same portion of zucchini also offers 23 mg of vitamin C and 476 mg of potassium, making it an excellent source of both nutrients.
Bell peppers, broccoli, carrots, and beets make for other good low-carb vegetable noodle options.
5. Practise Portion Control
Being mindful about portion sizes is key to enjoying pasta when you're managing type 2 diabetes. "The goal is to keep blood sugar levels from spiking too high," says Mowrer.
Food portions, especially at restaurants, are much larger today than they were 20 years ago. With those expanding portion sizes come more carbohydrates and calories.
On the other hand, providing smaller portion sizes can result in reduced calorie intake and lower body weight over time.
"It's important when consuming pasta to include other food groups and practice portion control, aiming for about one-quarter [carbohydrates], one-half [vegetables], and one-quarter lean protein on your plate per meal," says Mowrer. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends using a 9-inch dish (about the length of a business envelope) to take the guesswork out of portion control.
The exact number of carbohydrates to aim for depends on factors such as your age, gender, and activity level, as well as any medications you're taking, says Mowrer. Generally, she suggests people with diabetes aim for 30 to 60 g of carbohydrates per meal. The American Diabetes Association recommends working with a registered dietitian nutritionist or a certified diabetes care and education specialist to determine your carbohydrate goal.
6. Feature a Lean Protein
By combining a protein source with a carb-heavy dish like pasta, you can avoid a rapid blood sugar spike (and subsequent crash), because protein is slower to digest than carbohydrates, says Smithson. Plus, adding protein makes your pasta more satisfying, which may prevent you from overloading your plate with carbohydrates, says Anderson-Haynes.
Opt for a lean protein source like skinless grilled chicken, ground turkey, or tofu. These foods tend to be lower in saturated fat and sodium than red meat or processed meats like bacon.
7. Go Easy on the Cheese
While people with diabetes don't need to say goodbye to cheese, moderation and choosing the right type are two keys to keeping your bowl of pasta healthy.
A single serving of cheese is only 1 ounce (oz), or roughly the length of your thumb from tip to base. Try your best to stick to this thumb-sized serving, says Mowrer.
As far as diabetes-friendly cheese varieties go, opt for mozzarella or Parmesan, which are lower in fat and calories than other options. Mowrer also suggests grating them to make the serving sizes go further. A 1-oz serving of reduced-fat, part-skim mozzarella, for example, contains 70 calories and 4 g of fat. Meanwhile, 1 oz of Parmesan cheese contains 111 calories and 7 g of fat.
Limit or avoid fattier cheeses such as ricotta. One-half cup of full-fat ricotta has roughly 204 calories and 14 g of fat.
Reduced-fat and non-fat cheeses can also be good options. A half-cup serving of part-skim ricotta, for example, contains 171 calories and 9.8 g of fat.
The Takeaway
Individuals with type 2 diabetes can safely enjoy pasta by choosing fibre-rich whole-grain or legume-based varieties, or by substituting traditional noodles with low-carbohydrate vegetable spirals.
To prevent blood sugar spikes, it's essential to practice portion control and balance meals by filling half the plate with non-starchy vegetables, one-quarter with carbohydrates, and the remaining quarter with protein.
Replacing heavy, cream-based sauces with tomato- or olive oil-based alternatives significantly reduces harmful saturated fats and sodium to protect cardiovascular health.
Incorporating lean proteins like poultry or tofu slows digestion for sustained glucose control, while restricting cheese to small, thumb-sized portions of lower-fat varieties keeps total calories and fat consumption in check.
